July/August 1999

Harriet TubmanI Am a ManKnitting Factory

You'd think by now that black power trios would not automatically elicit comparisons to Hendrix. If Harriet Tubman-guitarist Brandon Ross, drummer J.T. Lewis, and bassist Melvin Gibbs-are like any one rocker, it's the aforementioned Beck, whose lyrical approach would find a good home on I Am a Man, (Knitting Factory, KFR 228 41:47) . Tubman rocks, sure, but in an understated way that builds tension and power through near-synergistic interaction. These 12 compositions surge and ebb, congeal and disperse, with all three engaging in deeply textural interplay (See the disc-opening "Savannah.")